The demon mark in the rock was scorched and blackened. The portal was closed forever. I dropped my hand and turned back to the others.
Samiel was sitting on top of Jude, who was facedown in dead leaves. The angel used his legs to pin Jude’s arms to his sides, and the wolf’s right cheek pressed into the dirt.
Jude was red-faced with fury. It was a testament to Samiel’s exceptional strength that he was able to hold Jude down. Wolves are some of the most physically powerful supernatural creatures around.
Samiel glanced up at me, questioning.
“Let him up,” I said.
He looked doubtful.
“It’s okay.”
Samiel reluctantly released Jude, who leapt to his feet and stalked toward me. His nose had lengthened into a muzzle. His front canines protruded over his mouth. The fingernails of his hands sharpened into claws.
“Bitch!” he shouted, and his voice was the growl of the wolf.
Gabriel tried to step in front of me, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. I would not hide from Jude in his grief. It could be laid directly at my feet.
Samiel moved toward Jude, looking like he intended to tackle the wolf again. I shook my head and stood my ground.
Jude walked right up to me, chest thrust out, breath coming in harsh pants. His right hand was upraised as though he intended to slash my throat open.
He pushed his muzzle into my face. I lifted my chin and held his gaze. I said nothing.
“I should kill you,” he breathed. “I should kill you now and rid the world of one more of your kind.”
“Killing me won’t change anything,” I said with a calm that I did not feel. I wasn’t sure I could blast Jude fast enough to stop him from ripping me to pieces if he decided the inclination moved him.
“You sealed the portal,” he growled. “I always knew the spawn of Lucifer would betray the wolves.”
I couldn’t hide from this. It was my fault. We had lost our only clue to Wade’s whereabouts, and I knew that. I also knew that Jude’s heart was breaking. An alpha is everything to his pack, and as his right-hand man, Jude would have been closer than a brother to Wade. But I didn’t have to stand there and be insulted for the hundredth time.
“Let me repeat again—I am not the spawn of Lucifer,” I said, my temper rising to the surface.
“Lucifer’s power runs through you. Lucifer’s sword chose you. Lucifer’s mark is upon you. Whether by one generation or a thousand, you are his spawn. I see his craft in your face. I see the same black heart.”
“His power may run through me,” I said softly, “but his heart is not mine. I am sorry about Wade. I am sorry. If you look as closely as you claim to, you will see that.”
His ice-blue eyes flickered over my face, confused. His wolf receded, leaving the face of the man. For a moment he hesitated; then he turned his head to the side and spat. I was thankful he didn’t decide to spit on me.
“I see only the deception of your kind.”
He turned away from me, crossed the clearing and fell to his knees. He raised his face to the sky and howled.
The cubs, who had been standing so still I’d almost forgotten about them, began to howl in unison. Their eyes were still blank and uncomprehending, but their little voices rose in the same grief as Jude’s.
Samiel, Gabriel, Nathaniel, Beezle and I stood and waited, outside of the circle of their sadness. Inside my heart, I howled with them.
Once we started moving again we were faced with a different problem. The cubs would follow a direct order, but only if I told them to. They wouldn’t listen to anyone else.
“You could make them do anything,” Beezle said. “They would all do the Macarena in sync if you asked them to.”
“Oh, yeah, because a troop of dancing brainwashed kids would be so helpful right now,” I said as we tramped through the woods. Jude was leading us back to the site of the original attack.
“Just trying to lighten the mood,” Beezle said. “Everyone is so grim.”
“Well, gosh, Beezle, why would we be grim? We’ve had a swell adventure here in the woods.”
“You don’t know Wade is dead,” Beezle said.
“He might as well be. I don’t know where that portal went, and now I never will. And we had no other clues to go on.”
“Sure you do. The charcarion demons.”
I stopped and stared at Beezle, who was perched on my shoulder and looking incredibly smug.
“The charcarion demons,” I repeated. “And they are significant…why?”
“How many cinnamon rolls will you give me if I tell you?”
“No one in our house needs cinnamon rolls. Especially you.”
“I’m not the one on a diet. I think I deserve some compensation for information that is obviously important to you.”
“Just spill it, Beezle, or I’ll replace all your Cheetos with whole-grain crackers.”
He puffed himself up indignantly. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
“Okay, okay. Charcarion demons are found in only two courts of the fallen.”
“And those are…”
“Abezethibod…”
“Bless you,” I said.
“And Focalor.”
“Focalor,” I said, somehow not surprised by this information. “What’s he up to now? I thought he was being punished by Lucifer.”
Beezle shrugged. “I dunno. That’s for you to figure out.”
“He definitely has an ax to grind with me,” I said slowly.
“Yeah, since you publicly humiliated him when you snuffed out his rebellion in front of Amarantha’s court.”
“Why do you say it like that? Was I supposed to let him tear Lucifer’s kingdom apart and endanger millions of innocent people?”
“No, but he definitely wants your head on a stick.”
“He’s going to have to get in line,” I said, thinking of all the scary creatures who wanted to squash me. I shook my head. That was not a productive line of thought.
“And he’s always had a grievance with Lucifer—or at least for the last three or four millennia or so.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Haven’t you ever wondered why Focalor looks like a demon even though he’s fallen?”
“Well, yeah,” I admitted. “I have wondered.”
“That was his punishment for defying Lucifer the last time.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“Focalor wanted to go home,” Beezle said, pointing a claw skyward. “He was gathering a contingent of fallen to ask for forgiveness.”
“Why didn’t Lucifer just let them go?”
Beezle snorted. “And take half his base of power with them? Lucifer had just established his own kingdom. No one was allowed to have second thoughts.”
“So Focalor has a lot of reasons to resent Lucifer,” I said thoughtfully. “And not only are the wolves friends to me, but they were negotiating with Lucifer again.”
I glanced at Jude, who was silently leading us through the woods. Maybe he was right. Maybe all the wolves’ troubles were Lucifer’s fault. And mine.
We entered the clearing that was the site of the kidnapping that had started this whole mess. Jude called a halt, and I repeated the order to the cubs. They stopped in their tracks wherever they were, frozen in a long, ragged line.
“I’ll take the cubs myself from here,” Jude said.
“How?” I asked. “They won’t listen to you.”
“I am not going to take three of Lucifer’s grandchildren into the place where I have hidden the pack,” Jude growled.